When Steve Van Dam steps into his classroom at the Faison School, he’s prepared to change course at a moment’s notice. It’s a bit like a rock ’n’ roll solo: Van Dam’s got a catalog of lessons at his fingertips, but he’ll improvise to keep things flowing. Such is a day in the life of a musician and entrepreneur who wants to rethink education for autistic students.

“My business partner, Craig Honeycutt, says I’m perfect for this role,” Van Dam remarks from his Bon Air home. “When we toured with our band, Everything, I was up there onstage, having to weather an ever-changing crowd.”

Van Dam and Honeycutt have taken a high-tech turn since their tour days in the ’90s, when their song “Hooch” became a top 10 Billboard hit. In 2014, they launched a startup called Light the Music, hoping that people would experience beloved songs in new ways. Their core product is called Project Oro, and it works like making your own music video. First, users are given a palette of symbols to choose from. Each symbol produces a visual effect and emits a particular sound. If the screen is tapped, symbols will flash as the rhythms are sounded out. But if the screen is stroked like a harp, visual images cascade slowly. Notes will go higher or lower, depending on which portion of the screen is touched. Because all commands play in a continuous loop, the result is a collage that dances and plays while you watch. It’s also possible to download instrument tracks from popular songs. For example, a tap on an iPad can produce a colorful firework that blasts out Elvis’ vocals from “Blue Suede Shoes.”

After Van Dam and Honeycutt courted a potential deal for Project Oro with Sony, they set aside visions of a big corporate payout. They also stopped thinking that they might get famous from people uploading experiences with Project Oro onto YouTube, Van Dam says. Instead, the duo considered its use as an educational tool. Local startup attorney Justin Laughter introduced Van Dam to the CEO of the Faison School, Brian McCann, who happened to be a fan of their band. The idea of using Project Oro for music therapy was tossed about. Van Dam has been teaching at Faison for a year now, and his software’s ability to increase teamwork among students led to plans for a research study in early 2018, to be conducted by Faison staff. The study will observe whether Project Oro is a good forum for developing social skills.

“For everyone with autism, there’s a social deficit, and that’s going to manifest differently in all students,” says Kathy Matthews, the vice president of educational outreach at Faison. “Maybe one student is really withdrawn, maybe another has trouble negotiating or appears disinterested in his friends. So what Steve does is he brings them all together on the same task.” She says that Faison wants to study those collaborative scenarios and observe whether the effects continue after the lesson is over.

“What excites me about this project is that it crosses ages and abilities.” —Kathy Matthews

There’s been a growing call for awareness about autistic learners. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has advocated for research in this area, and The Wall Street Journal published an opinion article in September that described how just three organizations account for 99 percent of autism studies. The article proposed following a venture-capital model to fund novel research studies.

Matthews sees a similar path forward through bringing Van Dam’s startup into the classroom. “Autistic students might have limited preferences, and trying new things can be tough,” she says. “So what’s neat about the music program is that it allows us to expand the interest of students. Steve’s in there every week talking them into something.”

“I’m trying to show them musical concepts, but also the joy of creating,” Van Dam says. “I don’t know where else they might have this experience.”

A lesson about rhythm, for example, could have everyone performing the same activity on an even playing field. “We’ve been interested in seeing the social effects of engaging in such exercises,” Matthews says. “Our research team is trying to capture the positive experience and tell that story.”

Because the app matches rhythms to visual displays, Van Dam says he uses lots of call-and-response exercises to open up communication. Lessons can build on this sense of dialog, then move on to melodies, pitches, chords and finally to songwriting. Van Dam hits impressionism, jazz and pop music along the way. “Magic” and “alchemy” are words he often uses to describe what happens next in the classroom. He says the students open up and interact with others they previously didn’t get along with, and they show a greater willingness to experiment with their newfound creativity.

“The great thing is how fearless the kids become,” Van Dam says. “They will seek out ways to push the app to its limits. [Customizable] technology can be a lifeline for them, not only just for expression but for processing emotions.”

With tablet technology becoming a modern chalkboard, the Richmond Waldorf School, Northstar Academy and Steward School are now lining up to make Project Oro part of their curriculum for students who are not on the autism spectrum. Matthews says the challenge is training staff to replicate the program, since Van Dam’s delivery is idiosyncratic and honed through his personal tinkering with the app. Van Dam agrees.

The feature that allows a user to randomly tap the screen and see visuals sync up with musical cues is the app’s “secret sauce,” he says. Van Dam has worked out a timing mechanism that keeps his software’s musical collages from sounding like a cacophony. But if he revealed his platform’s inner workings to developers who might want to tinker with specific features, they could easily run off with his entire idea. In the competitive startup world, such a threat is real.

There is also the challenge of showing measurable results from the technology’s use. Hence the Faison study. “With that data and those outcomes, we are able to make decisions about further behavioral or educational plans for those who we serve, with the ultimate goal being progress,” McCann says.

Faison’s study will be approved by an internal research review committee. If Project Oro produces repeatable results in a peer-reviewed environment, then the software can be delivered to other schools as an educational resource and therapeutic tool all in one.

“What excites me about this project is that it crosses ages and abilities,” Matthews says. “We’re very ripe to take on something like this.”